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' NITED STATES EEIcE.

PATENT CARL TUBBE, oE AUGSBURG, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO THE FARBWERKE, VORMALS MEISTER, LUCIUS a BRUNING, or I-IocHsT-oN-TIIE-MAIN,

GERMANY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 596,464, dated December 28, 1897.

Application filed September 9, 1897.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CARL TUBBE, doctor of 7 philosophy, a citizen of the Empire of Germany, residing at Augsburg, in the Kingdom of Bavaria and Empire of Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of MercerizingVegetable Tissues, of which the following is a specification.

The mercerization of cotton fiber is in many respects of great importance to the cotton industry, as it increases the power of the fiber to absorb dyestuffs. Mercerized fiber when contrasted with unmercerized treated with like quantitie s of dye-color has a much greater intensity of tint. The fiber is stronger and dilated, producing in the texture the effect of a firmer and better material, as is really the case, with a more silky gloss and a better feel in handling. Considering the cheapness and simplicity of Mercers original method, which, though known for many years, was not carried out on account of the impossibility of avoidin g skrinkage of the material, it is to be expected that this method will be generally applied in the cotton manufacture when the object-ion above mentioned is removed in a simple manner. According to known methods textures, in order to avoid shrinkage, are mercerized and neutralized by acids in washing while in a state of tension or are first mercerized and then stretched, while themercerizing liquid is still absorbed by the fiber, and are subsequently washed while in a state of tension. To attain such a tension by stretching the material beyond its original dimensions or by fixing it while stretched, special apparatus, like stretching-machines or some other mechanical appliances, are required. Mercerization greatly increases the tension, as the alkalies employed strongly act in tending to contract the fixed fiber. For the material to stand this tension throughout the mercerizing washing or acidulating it must be Very durable and resisting. Textures made from twisted or other superior yarns resist this treatment without tearing, but thin or poor materials, chiefly used for calico-prints intended for export or used as linings, often tear in the middle or at the borders. It is therefore impossible to mercerize according Serial No. 651,111. (No specimens.)

to the method hitherto known and with a certainty of not shrinking goods of inferior quality, mostly made of cheap yarns, which amount to about seventy-fiveto eighty per cent. of all calico-like textures. Besides, the expense of producing such materials, sold at one-half to one penny a yard, is enhanced by the necessity of providing special appa ratus and the additional cost of steam, room, and wages. It consequently is. of high importance to find means of obtaining the desired effect of mercerizing weak textures without fear of tearing the threads. I have succeeded in obtaining this by a method based on the following facts observed by me: Alka line lyes cause the cotton fiber to dilate and to become plastic and flexible, like clay or paste. If the fiber be left in this condition to itself, a strong contraction takes place, as is known, after some time, which causes a decrease of the material of thirty per cent. in width and about sixteen to eighteen per cent. in length. If, however, the dilated fiber be passed through cylinders under high pressure without any loss of time, it nearly retains its original dimensions, as only one to two per cent. in area are lost when rolled up; but even this slight contraction may be avoided if the alkaline mercerizing liquid be proportionately diluted with a colloidal agent of organic or inorganic nature-such, for instance, as British gum, insoluble water-glass, sodium aluminate, &c. This effect may be explained in the following manner: Colloidal substances such as those mentioned above cannot penetrate membranes which permit water and crystalloids to pass. The colloid contained in the mercerizing liquor when pressed into the hollow of the material by padding remains in the hollow of the cell and thus counteracts, so to say, as filling, the shrinking of the cells. The effect is powerfnl, as relatively small quantities of soluble glass, ten to twenty per cent. of the weight of the lye, suffice to prevent the contraction.

The method of mercerizing according to this invention, as a result from what precedes, is as follows: The textures are quickly passed through the caustic lye with or without dilution of a colloidal agent, whereupon they are passed through two heavily-weighted cylinders covered With cloth. The material is then rolled up in order to exclude the air which otherwise would change the fiber in presence of alkali to an oxycellulose. The rolling up is very important with goods not treated with soluble glass, inasmuch as their loss in area is greater than when not rolled up.

What I claim as my invention is- The process herein described of mercerizing vegetable tissues, which consists in padding the tissues with a mixture of alkaline lyes and colloidal agents, next subjecting said tissues to pressure, then rolling them up, and lastly washing them, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CARL TUBBE.

Witnesses:

I-IANs BERCHTOLD, EMIL HENZEL. 

